Aircraft registration

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This Cessna 150 displays the registration G-AVIT. The "G-" prefix denotes that it is registered in the United Kingdom.

An aircraft registration is a unique alphanumeric string that identifies a civilian aircraft. Because, airplanes typically display their registration numbers on the aft fuselage just forward of the tail, in earlier times more often on the tail itself), the registration is often referred to as the "tail number". In the United States, the registration number is also referred to as an "N-number"; as it starts with the letter N.

1 International standards
2 Country-specific usage
- 2.1 United States
3 List of countries/regions and their current registration prefixes and patterns
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] International standards

The International Civil Aviation Organization maintains the standards for aircraft registration. Article 20 of the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation requires that all signatory countries register aircraft over a certain weight with a national aviation authority. Upon registration, the aircraft receives its unique "registration" which must be displayed prominently on the aircraft. Annex 7 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation describes the definitions, location, and measurement of nationality and registration marks. The aircraft registration is made up of a prefix selected from the country's callsign prefix allocated by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) (making the registration a quick way of determining the country of origin) and the registration suffix. Depending on the country of registration, this suffix is a numeric or alphanumeric code and consists of one to five digits or characters respectively.

[edit] Country-specific usage

When painted on the fuselage, the prefix and suffix are separated by a dash (for example YR-BMA), however when entered in a flight plan, the dash is omitted (for example YRBMA). In the United States, the prefix and suffix are painted without a dash. Private aircraft usually use their registration as their radio callsign, but most commercial aircraft use the ICAO airline designator or a company callsign. In some instances, it may be sufficient to simply display the suffix letters, with the country prefix omitted. For example, gliders registered in Australia would omit the VH prefix and simply display the suffix. Obviously this is only suitable where the aircraft does not fly in the airspace of another country.

Even if the suffix consists solely of alphabetical characters in a certain country, gliders and ultralights may sometimes use digits instead. For example, in Germany, D-ABCD can be an aircraft while D-1234 is a glider. In Australia, early glider registration suffixes began with the letter "G", and it is not uncommon to find such gliders only displaying the last two letters of the suffix, as they lacked the range to travel internationally. For example, VH-GIQ would simply be displayed as IQ.

Different countries have different registration schemes: Canadian registrations start with C, British with G, German with D, and so forth. A comprehensive list is tabulated below.

[edit] United States

An N-number is an aircraft registration number used in the United States. All aircraft registered there have a number starting with N. Due to the large numbers of aircraft registered in the United States an alpha-numeric system is used. N-numbers may only consist of 1 to 5 characters and must start with a number other than zero and can not end in more than two letters. In addition, N-numbers may not contain the letters I or O, due to their close similarity with the numbers 1 and 0.^[1]

Each alphabetic character in the suffix can have one of 24 discrete values, while each numeric digit can be one of 10, except the first, which can take on only nine values. This yields a total of 915,399 possible registration numbers in the namespace, though certain combinations are reserved either for government use or for other special purposes.^[1]

The following are the combinations that could be used:

N1 to N9 — Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) internal use only^[1]
N1A to N9Z
N1AA to N9ZZ
N10 to N99 — Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) internal use only^[1]
N10A to N99Z
N10AA to N99ZZ
N100 to N999
N100A to N999Z
N100AA to N999ZZ
N1000 to N9999
N1000A to N9999Z
N10000 to N99999

An older (pre-1950s) aircraft may have a second letter in its identifier, identifying the category of aircraft. This additional letter is not actually part of the aircraft identification (e.g. NC12345 is the same registration as N12345). Aircraft category letters have not been included on any registration numbers issued since about 1950, but they still appear on antique aircraft for authenticity purposes. The categories included:

C = standard
L = limited
R = restricted
X = experimental

For example, N-X-211, the Ryan NYP aircraft flown by Charles Lindbergh as the Spirit of St. Louis, was registered in the experimental category.

[edit] List of countries/regions and their current registration prefixes and patterns

The registration prefixes of Europe (click to enlarge).

Country / Region	Registration Prefix	Suffix Pattern
Afghanistan	YA	abc
Albania	ZA	abc
Algeria	7T	abc
Andorra	C3	abc
Angola	D2	abc
Antigua and Barbuda	V2	abc
Argentina	LQ	abc
Argentina	LV	abc
Armenia	EK	12345
Aruba	P4	abc
Australia	VH	abc
Austria	OE	abc
Azerbaijan	4K	ab1 or ab12 or 12345
Bahamas	C6	abc
Bahrain	A9C	ab or abc
Bangladesh	S2	abc
Barbados	8P	abc
Belarus	EW	123ab or 12345
Belgium	OO	abc
Belize	V3	abc
Benin	TY	abc
Bermuda Isles	VP-B	ab
Bhutan	A5	abc
Bolivia	CP	1234
Bosnia and Herzegovina	T9	abc
Botswana	A2	abc
Brazil	PP	abc
Brazil	PR	abc
Brazil	PT	abc
Brazil	PU	abc (reserved for ultralights)
British Virgin Islands	VP-L	ab
Brunei	V8	abc or ab1 or 123
Bulgaria	LZ	abc
Burkina Faso	XT	abc
Burundi	9U	abc
Cambodia	XU	123
Cameroon	TJ	abc
Canada	CF-	abc
Canada	C-F	abc
Canada	C-G	abc
Canada	C-I	abc (ultralight aeroplanes only)
Canary Islands	EC	abc
Cape Verde	D4	abc
Cayman Islands	VP-C	ab
Central African Republic	TL	abc
Chad	TT	abc
Chile	CC	abc
China, People's Republic	B	1234
China, Republic (Taiwan)	B	12345
Hong Kong, China	B-H	ab
Hong Kong, China	B-K	ab
Hong Kong, China	B-L	ab
Macau, China	B-M	ab
Colombia	HK	1234a
Comoros	D6	abc
Congo, Republic of	TN	abc
Cook Islands	E5	abc
Congo, Democratic Republic of	9Q	abc
Costa Rica	TI	abc
Croatia	9A	abc
Cuba	CUT	1234
Cyprus, Republic of	5B	abc
Czech Republic	OK	abc or abc12 or 1234 or A123 [1]
Denmark	OY	abc
Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands	OY	Hab (reserved for helicopters)
Denmark	OY	Xab (only gliders)
Denmark	OY	Bab (preferred for hot-air balloons)
Djibouti	J2	abc
Dominica	J7	abc
Dominican Republic	HI	123ab
Ecuador	HC	abc
Egypt	SU	abc
El Salvador	YS	abc
Equatorial Guinea	3C	abc
Eritrea	E3	abc
Estonia	ES	abc
Ethiopia	ET	abc
Falkland Islands	VP-F	ab
Faroe Islands	OY	abc
Fiji Islands	DQ	abc
Finland	OH	abc
France	F	abcd
French West Indies	FOG	ab
French Guyana	FO	abc
Gabon	TR	abc
Gambia	C5	abc
Georgia	4L	12345 or abc
Germany	D	abcd
Ghana	9G	abc
Gibraltar	VP-G	ab
Greece	SX	abc
Greenland	OY	abc
Grenada	J3	abc
Guatemala	TG	abc
Guinea	3X	abc
Guinea Bissau	J5	abc
Guyana	8R	abc
Haiti	HH	abc
Honduras	HR	abc
Hungary	HA	abc
Iceland	TF	abc
India	VT	abc
Indonesia	PK	abc
Iran	EP	abc
Iraq	YI	abc
Ireland	EI	abc
Isle of Man	M	abcd
Israel	4X	abc
Italy	I	abcd
Ivory Coast	TU	abc
Jamaica	6Y	abc
Japan	JA	1234 or 123a or 12ab or a123
Jordan	JY	abc
Kazakhstan	UN	12345
Kenya	5Y	abc
Kiribati	T3	abc
Korea, People's Democratic Rep.	P	123
Korea, Republic of	HL	1234
Kuwait	9K	abc
Kyrgyzstan	EX	12345 or 123
Laos	RDPL	12345
Latvia	YL	abc
Lebanon	OD	abc
Lesotho	7P	abc
Liberia	A8	abc
Libya	5A	abc
Lithuania	LY	abc
Luxembourg	LX	abc
Macedonia	Z3	abc
Madagascar	5R	abc
Malawi	7Q	abc
Malaysia	9M	abc
Maldives	8Q	abc
Mali	TZ	abc
Malta	9H	abc
Marshall Islands	V7	1234
Mauritania	5T	abc
Mauritius	3B	abc
Mexico	XA	abc
Mexico	XB	abc
Mexico	XC	abc
Micronesia	V6	abc
Moldova	ER	abc or 12345
Monaco	3A	abc
Mongolia	JU	1234
Montserrat	VP-L	ab
Morocco	CN	abc
Mozambique	C9	abc
Myanmar	XY	abc
Myanmar	XZ	abc
Namibia	V5	abc
Nauru	C2	abc
Nepal	9N	abc
Netherlands	PH	abc
Netherlands Antilles	PJ	abc
New Zealand	ZK	abc
Nicaragua	YN	abc
Niger	5U	abc
Nigeria	5N	abc
Norway	LN	abc
Oman	A4O	ab
Pakistan	AP	abc
Panama	HP	1234abc
Papua New Guinea	P2	abc
Paraguay	ZP	abc
Peru	OB	1234
Philippines	RPC	1234
Poland	SP	abc
Portugal	CS	abc
Qatar	A7	abc
Réunion Island	FOD	ab
Romania	YR	abc
Russian Federation	RA	12345 or 1234K
Rwanda	9XR	ab
Saint Helena	VQ-H	ab
Saint Kitts and Nevis	V4	abc
Saint Lucia	J6	abc
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	J8	abc
Samoa	5W	abc
San Marino	T7	abc
São Tomé and Príncipe	S9	abc
Saudi Arabia	HZ	abc or ab1 or ab12 or abc1
Senegal	6V	abc
Senegal	6W	abc
Serbia	YU	abc
Seychelles	S7	abc
Sierra Leone	9L	abc
Singapore	9V	abc
Slovakia	OM	abc
Slovenia	S5	abc
Solomon Islands	H4	abc
Somalia	6O	abc
South Africa	ZS	abc
South Africa	ZT	abc
South Africa	ZU	abc
Spain	EC	abc
Sri Lanka	4R	abc
Sudan	ST	abc
Surinam	PZ	abc
Swaziland	3D	abc
Sweden	SE	abc
Switzerland	HB	abc
Syria	YK	abc
Tahiti	FOH	ab
Tajikistan	EY	12345
Tanzania	5H	abc
Thailand	HS	abc
Togo	5V	abc
Tonga	A3	abc
Trinidad and Tobago	9Y	abc
Tunisia	TS	abc
Turkey	TC	abc
Turkmenistan	EZ	a123
Turks and Caicos	VQ-T	ab
Tuvalu	T2	abc
Uganda	5X	abc
Ukraine	UR	12345 or abc
United Arab Emirates	A6	abc
United Kingdom	G	abcd
United Nations	4U	abc
United States of America	N	1 to 5 digits no letters, 1 to 4 digits one letter, 1 to 3 digits two letters
Uruguay	CX	abc
Uzbekistan	UK	12345
Vanuatu	YJ	ab1 or ab12
Venezuela	YV	123
Vietnam	VN	1234
Yemen	7O	abc
Zambia	9J	abc
Zimbabwe	Z	abc